In the Texas Tech football team’s disappointing 34-24 loss to Iowa State on Saturday, these turning points are where the game got away from the Red Raiders.
The most disappointing aspect of the Texas Tech football team’s loss to Iowa State this past weekend was the way the team started the game. In falling behind the Cyclones 20-0 by the middle of the second quarter, Matt Wells’ team never gave itself a chance to pick up its second Big 12 win of the year.
Most thought that the home team would come out of the locker room foaming at the mouth after the injustice it suffered in Waco one week earlier. And after seeing Tech jump all over Oklahoma State to the tune of its own 20-0 first-half lead the last time we witnessed a game in Lubbock, we had hoped that the program had finally solved its 11 am kickoff blues.
But that wasn’t the case. Tech was a mess in the first two quarters while Iowa State fired on all cylinders. This wasn’t the first time we’ve seen Tech lay a first-half egg at Jones Stadium in the last handful of years.
Last season in another 11 am kickoff, West Virginia jumped out to a 21-0 lead in Lubbock by scoring on three of its first four possessions. By the time Tech found its footing, the home crowd was staring at a 35-10 halftime deficit that also included the added insult of seeing starting QB Alan Bowman leave the game with a collapsed lung. Though the home team rallied in the second half, the huge hole was too much to climb out of as the Mountaineers hung on for a 42-34 win.
In 2016, the Mountaineers also put Tech away in the first half of an 11 am kickoff. That day, Tech found itself down 24-7 at the intermission on its way to a 48-17 humbling.
Another time our beloved Red Raiders wet the bed at home against Iowa State was in 2011. Just one week after knocking off No. 3 OU in Norman, Tech found itself down 24-7 at the break to a 3-4 Cyclone team that would hand Tommy Tuberville’s Red Raiders a 41-7 life-lesson about believing your own headlines.
Unfortunately, the home fans have almost come to expect the Red Raiders to put forth their worst foot at home, especially in the first half of any Big 12 game that kicks at 11 am. Is it any wonder that many fans don’t think twice about leaving at halftime these days?
That’s why this showing against Iowa State was especially frustrating. After having provided the fan base with a home win over a ranked Oklahoma State team in its last home contest, this program had an opportunity to truly begin to write a new narrative about what life will be like at Jones Stadium during the Matt Wells era.
Instead, Tech came out of the locker room and simply dropped its pants once again forcing the home fans to watch another Big 12 program administer a public spanking in our own back yard. But there were moments when Tech could have made a stand against ISU. Unfortunately, in those turning points, Tech only continued to reinforce the negative view many in scarlet and black have of Red Raider football and gave them no reason to emotionally invest in the program once again.